Im Gyeong CJ ENM Vice Chairman to Receive Cultural Medal

Announcement of Winners for the Ministry of Culture and Korea Creative Content Agency Content Awards
Kim Dongrae, CEO of RaemongRaein, Receives the Order of Cultural Merit

Lee Mi-kyung, Vice Chairwoman of CJ ENM, will receive a Cultural Medal in recognition of her contributions to the development of the content industry. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency announced the winners of the Korea Content Awards on the 8th, ahead of the ceremony held on the 13th at the National Museum of Korea. Awards and commendations are given to content industry professionals who have led global cultural trends with K-content, and outstanding content is selected and honored.

Vice Chairwoman Lee will be awarded the highest honor, the Geumgwan Cultural Medal. She has been a key figure in the growth of the Korean film and content industry since 1995. She established the investment and distribution company CJ Entertainment and Korea’s first multiplex cinema CGV, producing numerous works that became historic milestones for K-content. Representative examples include Parasite, which won four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film) in 2020, and Decision to Leave, which won the Best Director award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. She has played a pivotal role in the tangible and intangible growth of Korean popular culture and the global spread of K-content, having previously received honors such as the International Emmy Founders Award. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism added, “She continues to enhance the global status of Korean culture by serving as Vice Chair of the Board at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in the United States.”

The Cultural Medal will be awarded to Kim Dong-rae, CEO of RaemongRaein. He is the producer behind dozens of dramas over the past 30 years, including Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Extraordinary You, Semantic Error, and The Youngest Son of a Chaebol Family. With high artistic quality and popularity, he has introduced the appeal of Korean broadcast content to the world. He also pioneered ways to secure content intellectual property (IP), expanding the base for creating added value. The drama The Youngest Son of a Chaebol Family, which recorded a peak viewership rating of 26.9% last year, was distributed to over 170 countries via online streaming services (OTT) and became the most-watched content in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and other regions. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism evaluated, “He has greatly contributed to the development of the broadcasting and video industry by leading the global popularity of K-dramas.”